Circle and ACI Worldwide Pilot USDC Settlement on Colombia's Bre-B Rails

Circle has signed payments-technology firm ACI Worldwide to integrate USDC settlement into Latin American banking infrastructure, starting with a pilot in Colombia built on ACI's Bre-B instant-payments system. The companies announced the collaboration on Tuesday, pairing Circle's USDC infrastructure with ACI Connetic, ACI's cloud-based payments orchestration platform.

The initial deployment targets Colombia, where ACI built the central infrastructure behind Bre-B, the country's interoperable instant-payments network. The pilot will test how a digital dollar can slot into that real-time, account-to-account system, creating what the two companies describe as a multi-rail settlement ecosystem. The design goal is additive: stablecoin settlement running alongside traditional payment rails rather than replacing them.

What changes for banks?

The framing signals a shift in how financial institutions approach stablecoins. Banks have largely stopped debating the technology itself and now ask how digital dollars fit into treasury operations, governance and settlement processes they already run.

Craig Ramsey, ACI's global head of account-to-account payments, said: "The conversation around stablecoins is moving from possibility to practicality." He described the effort as a way to integrate regulated stablecoins into workflows banks already trust.

Kash Razzaghi, Circle's chief commercial officer, said financial institutions across Latin America are increasingly examining how stablecoins can support the evolution of payments "within the infrastructure they already use." He framed USDC as a bridge between traditional finance and the digital economy.

Why Colombia?

Colombia offers two structural advantages for a settlement pilot. The country handles high cross-border remittance volumes, and its population is well-acquainted with dollar-denominated savings as a hedge against inflation. Instant-payment adoption in the Colombian market is already accelerating, which lowers the integration barrier for a real-time settlement test.

The pilot also extends a deliberate regional strategy. Circle has pushed into dozens of emerging markets as stablecoins gain mainstream usage, and it secured an earlier Latin American foothold when Argentina's Mercado Pago added USDC to its wallet service.

Is the platform locked to USDC?

Circle positioned the pilot as technology-agnostic. While the initial implementation runs on USDC, ACI's platform is built to support other payment networks and digital-asset providers over time. That architecture matters commercially: banks adopting the orchestration layer are not committing to a single stablecoin issuer, which could broaden uptake among institutions that must evaluate multiple settlement options.

For Circle, the deal represents another step in embedding its stablecoin into mainstream financial plumbing. Integration with established account-to-account rails carries more operational weight than wallet listings, because settlement infrastructure sits at the core of bank processing rather than at the consumer edge.

The Colombian pilot's results will likely shape whether the ACI partnership extends across additional Latin American markets, where Circle has already mapped expansion into dozens of emerging economies.